Horizons
by HecateA
Summary: Tonks was just looking for more information on the boy they were about to rescue; she wasn't expecting to get a glimpse of just how lonely Remus Lupin was. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: **Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings: **References to grief, loneliness.

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**Stacked with: **MC4A; Shipping War; Hogwarts

**Individual Challenge(s): **Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; Summer Vacation; Seeds; Tissue Warning; Golden Times; Old Shoes; Themes & Things A (Reflection); Themes & Things B (Loneliness); True Colours; Rian-Russo Inversion; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Word Count: **756

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_**Shipping Wars**_

**Ship (Team): **Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks

**List (Prompt): **Summer Big List (Rescue)

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**Horizons **

"Tell me about Harry," Dora said.

Remus turned around, frowning. "Harry?"

"Yes, the boy we're about twenty minutes away from rescuing from some Muggle hellhole," Dora said. "I hear he has a lightning scar on his forehead—some kerfuffle with a dark wizard?"

"I'm familiar with him, yes," Remus said, cracking a grin. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm an Auror," she shrugged. "I like operating with as much information as I can possibly have access to. So spill. Tell me about Harry—what he's like, what he likes, who he is, how you'll reckon he'll react to a party of strangers turning up at his door…"

"Not all strangers," Remus corrected her. "He knows me—I'm glad I'll be going for that reason, actually. I think that will help. Sirius has been worried about the toll that being alone all this time will have had on him, how afraid he must be, and frankly that's…"

Remus chewed his lip for a second. Dora gave him time.

"He looks almost exactly like his father," Remus finally said. "I know that means nothing to you since you never knew James; but that's the first thing that most people will tell you about him, so it feels like a good starting point. And he is like James in a lot of ways. You'll see; he's brilliant on a broomstick, it's really quite something. But he makes me think of his Mum a lot more. He's exceptionally kind, very soft. I hope that hasn't changed since… well, since what happened to him in that awful tournament."

Dora nodded. "What do you mean by that? Give me an example, tell me a story."

Remus smiled and launched himself into a story about Harry helping another Gryffindor student in one of Remus' Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, once upon a time. She laughed at the amount of detail and care he poured into his retelling and, to be quite frank, didn't register much of the actual story.

"How long have you known him?" Dora asked.

Remus made a small, pensive noise.

"That's a funny question," he answered.

"Funny how?" Dora asked.

"Well, I met him on the day he was born," Remus said. "Mostly because I had to hold back Sirius to give Lily a few hours to recover, poor woman. Sirius and I used to watch him all the time. He took his first steps on my birthday, actually, trying to get to his mum while she was baking me a cake."

He smiled at the memory, and then laughed to himself.

"Sorry—I just remembered… he used to call me 'moo-moo,' back when he was just learning how to call people by their names," he said. "A rather valiant effort at 'Moony,' all things considered."

"That's adorable," Dora grinned.

Remus should have agreed, but he seemed troubled all of a sudden. "I actually don't think I've even told him that story…"

"You didn't have much contact with him while he was at his aunt and uncle's, did you?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"None, actually. It…" he said the next part without must certainty, as if it was rehearsed instead of believed. "It was for the best, really… It must have been. How could I have cared for him, all things considered? We really met two years ago. He's grown now, I shouldn't be spilling his baby stories left, right, and center."

"I promise to keep it to myself," Dora said. Still, it was itching at her. "That's a lot of missing time between the two of you."

"I suppose so," Remus said. "But I'm missing a lot of time, all things considered, between the night his parents died and…"

He cleared his throat, uncomfortably.

"The thing about time is that when it's gone, it's gone," Remus said. "There's really… really no use looking back on it. It's maddening if you do. I'm thankful to have him now, as the young man he's become and that I'm lucky to know in the present. That's all I can ask for."

And something about the quiet resolution of him and the resilience in his willingness to shove the past under a rug and stomp on it in favour of the present… or maybe his need to do it, to look for something better on any horizon available. Well, it made Tonks want to be part of whatever the present or future could hold.

She thought of that during their entire flight to Surrey, to pick up this boy she'd now heard so much about.


End file.
